Telephonic communications has become an accepted part of modem society. Even in the most remote portions of the earth, telephone service is available through a worldwide telephone communications network. Other communication devices, such as facsimile machines, can also use the worldwide telephone communications network to send a facsimile message from one remote comer of the earth to another, or from one office to another in the same building, simply by dialing the appropriate facsimile telephone number. The worldwide telephone communications network couples these devices to each other.
Obviously, to properly complete a telephone connection a caller must know the complete telephone number of the location to which the telephone call is placed. A drawback of the current worldwide telephone communications network is that the caller must also be aware of the location from which the call is being placed (i.e., the caller telephone number). Thus, the number and sequence of digits of the callee telephone number is dependent on the location of both the caller and the callee.
For example, in some locations the caller may have to dial a local prefix, such as a "9," to connect to an outside line while other locations do not require that a 9 be dialed to connect to an outside line. The caller may be required to dial an area code to properly complete a telephone call to one location within the United States but not to another more proximate location. These location-dependent requirements often cause confusion in placing telephone calls and the dialing of telephone numbers incorrectly.
In some situations, the caller may have only a partial callee telephone number rather than a complete callee telephone number including international prefixes, country code, long distance code, and the like. For example, a caller may only have the callee subscriber telephone number 555-1234. It may be necessary to add digits to the telephone number to properly complete the telephone call.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for a system and method for uniquely identifying the callee telephone and placing telephone calls in a manner that automatically takes caller location into account.